Available Online at http://www.recentscientific.com International Journal of CODEN: IJRSFP (USA) Recent Scientific International Journal of Recent Scientific Research Research Vol. 11, Issue, 12 (A), pp. 40210-40212, December, 2020 ISSN: 0976-3031 DOI: 10.24327/IJRSR Research Article ENTREPRENEURIAL PERFORMANCE OF CASHEW GROWERS IN CUDDALORE DISTRICT OF TAMIL NADU Jeya R., Mahalakshmi S and Darling B. Suji Department of Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijrsr.2020.1112.5649 ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article History: The present investigation was conducted in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu to study the entrepreneurial performance of cashew growers. A sample size of 120 cashew growers were selected Received 06th September, 2020 th from six villages of Panruti Taluk. The study revealed that majority of respondents (56.00 per cent) Received in revised form 14 possessed medium level of entrepreneurial performance followed by 28.00 per cent having low level October, 2020 and 16.00 per cent having high level of entrepreneurial performance. The correlation analysis Accepted 23rd November, 2020 th revealed that six variables namely educational status, annual income, experience in cashew Published online 28 December, 2020 cultivation, family support, extension agency contact and scientific orientation had positive and significant relationship with entrepreneurial performance of cashew growers. Key Words: Entrepreneurial performance, cashew production, cashew growers. Copyright © Jeya R., Mahalakshmi S and Darling B. Suji, 2020, this is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. INTRODUCTION the study was conducted to assess the entrepreneurial performance of cashew growers and to find out the relationship An entrepreneur is an individual who creates something new of socio-economic and psychological characteristics of the with value, by devoting time and effort. (Bwisa, 2011). He is cashew growers with their entrepreneurial performance. an organizer who combines various factors of production to produce a socially viable product (Jagannath Barik, 2013). METHODOLOGY Entrepreneurs come with an idea of about putting to better use This study was taken up in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu. of resources what others may consider as a waste. It increases Panruti block was purposively selected as it had maximum area the economy of the country through taxes and creation of jobs under cashew cultivation. Six villages were selected based on which in turn would increase the standard of living of the maximum area criteria. The selected villages were beneficiaries. Entrepreneurship is a dynamic activity which Vegakollai, Marungur, Kadampuliyur, Kattukudalur, helps the entrepreneur to bring changes in the process of P.Pullayarkuppam and Keelmampattu. A sample size of 120 production, innovation in production, new usage of materials, respondents were selected by proportionate random sampling creator of market, etc. Agricultural entrepreneurship can be method. The data were collected through a well structured and defined as production and marketing of various agricultural pre-tested interview schedule. The collected data were analyzed products. Cashew nut is considered as poor man’s crop and rich statistically using cumulative frequency, percentage analysis, man’s food which had greater economical importance zero order correlation and regression analysis. (Mehazabeen Acchukalta and Srinivasan, 2016). The cashew industry in India is largely an export oriented industry which FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION employs greater number of women to process the nuts. (Haripriya, 2014). The development of any nation depends Entrepreneural performance of Cashew Growers primarily on the important role played by entrepreneurs. Hence, The results on distribution of respondents according to their the part played by entrepreneurs is of vital importance in a entrepreneurial performance are presented in Table 1. developing country like India (Shivacharan et al., 2015). Cashew play an important role in Indian economy and also some people said “cash from cashew is a no-brainer”. Hence *Corresponding author: Jeya R Department of Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu International Journal of Recent Scientific Research Vol. 11, Issue, 12 (A), pp. 40210-40212, December, 2020 Table 1 Distribution of respondents according to their level of innovativeness. The reason for medium level of entrepreneurial performance innovativeness was due to the fact that majority of the (n = 120) respondents had formal education which might have enabled them to possess medium level of innovativeness in cashew S.No Category Number of Respondents Per Cent 1. Low 34 28.00 farming. 2. Medium 67 56.00 3. High 19 16.00 Credit Orientation Total 120 100.00 In the total sample, three-fifth of the respondents (62.00 per It could be observed from the Table 1 that half the proportion cent) belonged to medium level of credit orientation followed of cashew growers (56.00 per cent) were found to be medium by high 20.00 per cent and low 18.00 per cent levels of credit level of entrepreneurial performance followed by low (28.00 orientation. The presence of institutional credit mechanisms in per cent) and high (16.00 per cent) levels of entrepreneurial the study area may be the probable reason for medium to high performance.. This finding derives support from the findings level of credit orientation. of Rakesh et.al (2016 ) and Kumar et, al.,(2016) . Risk Orientation Entrepreneurial traits of cashew growers Half the proportion of the respondents (50.00 per cent) had The entrepreneurial traits of cashew growers were studied medium level of risk orientation followed by 30.00 per cent of under ten components such as self-confidence, decision making the respondents with high level of risk orientation. Only 20.00 ability, innovativeness, achievement motivation, risk per cent of them had low level of risk orientation. It could be orientation, credit orientation, competition orientation, inferred that majority of the respondents had medium level of leadership ability, knowledge about cashew cultivation and risk orientation. The medium to high level of risk orientation economic motivation. The results are presented in table 2. by majority of the respondents may be due to their medium to high level of annual income. The results on distribution of respondents according to their entrepreneurial traits are presented in Table 2. Table 2 Distribution of respondents according to their entrepreneurial traits (n=120) Low Medium High S. No Entrepreneurial traits Total No. of respondents Per cent No. of respondents Per cent No. of respondents Per cent 1 Self confidence 28 23.00 90 75.00 2 2.00 100.00 2 Decision making ability 34 28.00 65 54.00 21 18.00 100.00 3 Innovativeness 22 18.00 71 59.00 27 23.00 100.00 4 Achievement motivation 26 22.00 77 64.00 17 14.00 100.00 5 Risk orientation 24 20.00 60 50.00 36 30.00 100.00 6 Credit orientation 22 18.00 74 62.00 24 20.00 100.00 7 Competition orientation 23 19.00 71 59.00 26 22.00 100.00 8 Leadership ability 19 16.00 70 58.00 31 26.00 100.00 9 Knowledge about cashew cultivation 28 23.00 71 59.00 21 18.00 100.00 10 Economic motivation 18 15.00 73 61.00 29 24.00 100.00 Self confidence Competition Orientation Majority of the respondents (75.00 per cent) had medium level Majority of the respondents (59.00 per cent) had medium level of self-confidence followed by 23.00 per cent of the of competition orientation followed by high (22.00 per cent) respondents had low level of self confidence. Only a meagre and low (19.00 per cent) levels of orientation towards proportion (2.00 per cent) of the respondents had high level of competitions. The medium level of innovativeness and risk self confidence. As many of the respondents had formal taking ability of the respondents have enabled them to be education which in turn might have enabled them to be self medium in their competition orientation. confident. Achievement Motivation Decision Making Ability Majority of the respondents (64.00 per cent) had medium level The distributional analysis pertaining to decision making of achievement motivation followed by 22.00 per cent and ability of cashew growers mentioned in Table 1 indicated that 14.00 per cent of the respondents with low and high degree of just over half of the respondents (54.00 per cent) had medium achievement motivation. level of decision making ability followed by low (28.00 per cent) and high (18.00 per cent) levels of decision making Leadership ability ability. Majority of the respondents (58.00 per cent) had medium level Innovativeness of leadership ability followed by 26.00 per cent and 16.00 per cent of the respondents with high and low levels of leadership More than half the proportion of the respondents (59.00 per ability, respectively. As the respondents were well educated cent) had medium level of innovativeness followed by 23.00 and self confident which in turn would have helped them to per cent of the respondents had high level of innovativeness. acquire leadership qualities. Only 18.00 per cent of the respondents were found to have low 40211 | P a g e Jeya R., Mahalakshmi S and Darling B. Suji., Entrepreneurial Performance of Cashew Growers In Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu Knowledge about cashew cultivation The remaining characteristics were found to be non-significant. Among the significant variables, two variables namely Around 60.00 per cent of the respondents (59.00 per cent) had educational status and experience in cashew nut cultivation medium level of knowledge, followed by high (23.00 per cent) were found to be significant at one per cent level of probability, and low (18.00 per cent) levels.